Retrieval devices and systems allow physicians and other medical professionals to remove various materials from a patient, including organic material (e.g., blood clots, tissue, and biological concretions such as urinary, biliary, and pancreatic stones) and inorganic material (e.g., components of a medical device or other foreign matter). For example, concretions can develop in the kidneys, pancreas, ureter, or gallbladder, and cause blockages or other complications within the body. Minimally-invasive medical procedures may be used to remove these materials through a natural orifice, such as lithotripsy and ureteroscopy, or through an incision, such as percutaneous nephrolithotomy.
Current endoscopic systems have disadvantages, however. For example, ureteroscopic procedures typically require two or more people, wherein a physician controls the ureteroscope with both hands (one hand to grasp the handle and the other to hold the distal portion of the ureteroscope as it enters the urinary tract via the urethral meatus), and an assistant inserts a tool such as a basket, forceps, or a laser through a working channel of the ureteroscope and manipulates the tool. To remove a kidney stone, for example, a ureteroscope is used to gain access to the kidney, and a separate basket device is inserted into the working channel of the ureteroscope to remove or reposition the stone. In order to fragment larger stones into smaller pieces for removal, the basket device can be withdrawn from the working channel and substituted for a laser. After fragmenting the stone, the laser can be removed from the working channel and the basket device reinserted to capture the fragments.
This technique requires careful coordination. If communication between the physician and assistant is unclear, the assistant may require multiple attempts to successfully fragment and retrieve a stone or other material from the patient. Multiple attempts can increase risk to the patient, increase procedure time, and lead to tool damage for repeated unsuccessful attempts. Further, coordination between multiple people to control separate instruments simultaneously in a limited space can be logistically difficult and inconvenient, requiring awkward gripping and imprecise manipulation of the instruments.